Off the Beaten Road
by authorwannabe101
Summary: What would have happened if Joe Hardy was one of Azazel's children, and arrived in Cold Oak at the same time as Sam Winchester?


**Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all! This fic is my Christmas present to Bookdancer, for being the most incredible friend that anyone could ask for. And while this is only the first chapter, I'll do my best to update often. And for those of you waiting for my other stories, I'll try to update soon.**

**I don't own the Hardy Boys or Supernatural.**

"Frankie, I'm home!" The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the large entryway. The answer was a clatter and a thud, then an exclamation of surprise and pain. The young man's expression grew worried, and he tossed down his large bag in favor of taking the stairs two at a time. He slowed as he reached each bedroom, glancing inside before hurrying to the next one. At the the third one, he sighed in relief and a little bit of laughter as he took in what was inside. "Did you get so desperate to see me when you heard my voice that you decided to go through the floor?" he laughed.

"Haha, Joe," Frank said dryly, rolling his brown eyes even as he shifted to get a better view of his brother. "Sorry if the last time I saw you was when you were still healing after that accident. Can you move the bookcase, though? I'd like to greet my little brother looking down, not up."

Joe forced a laugh out and the memory - _the cars collided right in front of him all he wanted to do was help take away some of the pain he didn't want it all but it was overwhelming and he was dying and oh would it ever _**_stop_** - away and stepped carefully over the scattered books. "You sure you don't want me to rescue your precious babies first?" he teased.

"If we were at my house? That should be your immediate response," Frank joked, laughing and then groaning. "But we're at this crazy big mansion that Mom, Dad, and Aunt Trudy rented for the weekend, so they aren't my books, and I think I broke a rib or two."

Joe paused, taking in the way that the top of the bookcase lay across his brother's chest, and nodded, conceding that it was plausible. He reached down, got a firm grip on the piece of furniture, and heaved it upwards. Once he had it settled upright, he did the same for Frank, making sure to touch bare skin on his arm and school his expression into one of worry, not letting the pain show. "Huh," his older brother remarked, frowning in consideration and carefully testing his own ribs once he was standing. "I don't think they're broken after all. Maybe a little bruised, but nothing too bad."

Joe reached out to test for himself, forced a smile, and pulled away with a fake laugh as Frank playfully elbowed him in the side, right where his cracked ribs were.

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><p>"Boys!"<p>

The familiarity of the call made Frank smile, even as he corrected, "Men, Aunt Trudy! Men! Joe is twenty-three now, and I'm twenty-four. We're both out of college, and we have steady jobs. I think we've earned the title."

"He's right, Trudy," their mom said, smiling sadly. "My little boys are all grown up."

Aunt Gertrude huffed and shook her head. "Nonsense, Laura. These two will always be little boys, especially since they're stupid enough to go into that detective business together, but work cases separately!"

"It was only recently!" Joe protested. "Normally we work together, but then I had my accident and Frank had to keep working and then a new case came up that I had to do and it all spiraled out of control."

"Well," Aunt Trudy said, raising an eyebrow, "hopefully you can keep your car on the road while you go get chocolate. I intend to make cookies, but I've forgotten the chips."

Frank looked at his father as the man announced his arrival by clapping a hand on his shoulder, but neither of them could keep from chuckling as Joe's eyes lit up.

"I'm on it!" the youngest person in the house announced, and then glanced at his brother. "Coming with me, Frank?"

"Go on," Fenton insisted, and Frank's eyes narrowed as he watched his brother flinch when their father's hand landed on his shoulder too. "I'll keep the beast under control," the eldest man joked.

Their father's pretend wince and laughter as Aunt Trudy called out, "I heard that, Fenton Hardy!" helped erase the incident from Frank's mind, but it didn't do the job completely. As he and his younger brother headed for the car, Frank decided to confront Joe about it.

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><p>Joe stormed across the parking lot to the grocery store after slamming the car door in his brother's shocked face. What was Frank doing? Just because he was older didn't mean that he had to know every little thing about Joe's life! And yeah, ok, maybe this wasn't a little thing, and was actually the biggest thing to happen to Joe since he got accepted to his number one college, and quite possibly ever, but that still didn't give Frank the right to try and take apart every bit of his life!<p>

Joe spun around the corner into the baking aisle and immediately stopped, slowly taking a step back as he registered the five brutally murdered people lying in different positions all around him, and the medium-height man, splattered in blood, still standing in the middle of the lane. "Joe," the creepy yellow-eyes glinted in the light as the murderer turned to face him. "I've been waiting for you." The man smiled, and Joe's shout was cut off before he could get out a sound.

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><p>Frank looked up from the steering wheel - which hadn't done anything to help him solve his problems - to stare at the crowd of people evacuating the store, alarms coming from inside and sirens echoing in the distance, and he just knew. He knew it as sure as he knew that he had gone to Bayport High all four years of high school. Joe wasn't in that building, and he wasn't coming out.<p>

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><p><strong>Ok, so, I was just writing this fic, and then I realized that Sam disappeared while getting pie and Joe disappeared while getting pie filling... Needless to say, I changed it to chocolate chips for cookies. XD<strong>

**I hope you all enjoyed, and please review!**


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